The former chief financial officer of Autonomy has been indicted in the US for allegedly defrauding Hewlett Packard and investors about the firm’s performance before its $11.7 billion (then £7.1 billion) acquisition.

Sushovan Hussain was indicted on November 10 at San Francisco’s federal court on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Federal prosecutors argued that Hussain, and others, had “engaged in a fraudulent scheme” to deceive HP and investors as to the success of Autonomy’s business, financials and prospects for growth.

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Hussain, a British citizen, remains in the UK and has not been arrested. His lawyer, John Keker, said in a statement issued on Friday that Hussain was “innocent of wrongdoing” and would be acquitted at trial. Keker added it was “a shame” that the US Department of Justice was “lending its support to HP’s attempts to blame others for its own catastrophic failings”.

“Mr Hussain is a UK citizen who properly applied UK accounting rules for a UK company. This issue does not belong in a US criminal court,” Keker’s statement continued.

The indictment in the US is the latest twist in a long-running wrangle between HP and the former top executives at Autonomy. In March 2015, HP sued Autonomy founder Mike Lynch and Hussain for $5.1 billion, alleging the company had been given an overly-optimistic valuation before it was acquired. Lawyers on both sides have agreed to take the dispute to court in London in 2018.

HP paid $11.7bn for Autonomy in 2011 but wrote down $8.8bn on its value the following year. In October 2015 Lynch countersued HP for at least $160 million, accusing it of damaging his career by making false statements.

The UK’s serious fraud office dropped its investigation into the takeover in January 2015 after finding “insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction”.